The present disclosure relates to patient support apparatuses such as hospital beds having bed frames and patient support surfaces or mattresses that are supported by the bed frames. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a therapy enabler system for patient support apparatuses.
Hospital beds having mattresses, which are sometimes referred to as patient support surfaces or simply support surfaces, supported by bed frames are known. Some patient support surfaces are configured to provide one or more therapies to a patient such as, for example, continuous lateral rotation therapy (CLRT), alternating pressure therapy, percussion and/or vibration therapy, low air loss therapy, and so on. Oftentimes, these different types of therapies are accomplished by inflating and deflating particular air bladders of the support surface or by specialized operation of a pneumatic control system of the support surface or bed frame. Some bed frames have portions that move to provide one or more therapies such as, for example, by having upper frames or decks that rotate side to side to provide continuous lateral rotation therapy.
Some hospital bed frames have integrated pneumatic control systems that are operated to control the inflation of air bladders in a mattress. For example, the TOTALCARE® bed and VERSACARE® bed marketed by Hill-Rom Company, Inc. have integrated pneumatic control systems. Support surfaces which have different types of air bladder configurations that provide various types of therapies or functions may be supported at different times on hospital bed frames having integrated pneumatic control systems. Accordingly, information regarding the type of support surface supported on the bed frame at any given time needs to be provided to the pneumatic control system so that the pneumatic control system is operated properly to control inflation of the various air bladders of the associated mattress.